A Friend to Everyone: Danailov on Anand
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 3:42PM Yes, chess fans, it's time once more for the Silvio Danailov show! Danailov, Topalov's ever-gracious manager, is starting the mind games and propaganda war with Anand, in anticipation of their (Topalov's and Anand's) world championship match slated to begin in April of 2010. Here are a couple of excerpts, from the translated excerpts here:
- Viswanathan Anand, who is in third place, is hardly playing at all, but simply resting on his laurels. Let us not forget that he is 40 years old and can hardly keep up with the competitive pace of younger players. You have no energy at this age and he has to save it up [for the match]. His main aim is to keep the title, because it gives him many benefits.
- I expect that in the remaining six months the team of Anand will try to do everything possible and insist on implausible conditions during the negotiations and before signing the contract with FIDE, just to make us nervous.
Yep, that's right: Anand, who is playing in Moscow right now and Wijk aan Zee in January, is sitting on his laurels; Topalov, who is skipping both events and abandoned his teammates at the European Team Championship halfway through after a poor performance is not. Got it. And sure, who can forget all the dirty tricks Anand played in his previous world championship finals against Kasparov (1995), Karpov (1998), Shirov (2001), San Luis (2005), Mexico City (2007) and Bonn (2008). Hmm, I can't think of any...oh yeah, Toiletgate! Oops, wait, that was Danailov and Topalov's doing. Well, there must be something to what Danailov is saying; after all, that wily Anand wielded his power to get the match in...Topalov's and Danailov's home country of Bulgaria. (Just to make Topalov and Danailov nervous, I'm sure.) Very clever of him.
Topalov is a great and entertaining player whose creativity and fighting spirit are worthy of emulation, but as long as he's generating or at least countenancing this sort of behavior on his behalf it's difficult - impossible for me - to root for him.
Anand, Danailov, Topalov in Anand-Topalov 2010
Reader Comments (14)
Here here. Is Anand playing in London? I know Kramnik is.
Shame on me, he's not; I'll fix that right away. He is playing in Wijk aan Zee, though. By the way, is there another "Canary Islands" closer to Bulgaria? It seems crazy to me that Topalov is going to fly approximately 2400 miles (> 3850 km) each way on the days off, unless perhaps he's flying Bulgaria's equivalent of Air Force 1.
"Is there another 'Canary Islands' closer to Bulgaria"?
This part was apparently wrongly transcribed - see the version at Chessdom. "7 to 10 days rest between the sessions" refers to Topalov's training sessions in (mainland) Spain to prepare for the match.
By the way, they mention that Topalov will play Linares - based on their recent tendency to avoid each other prior to the match, Anand probably won't (both play half of the top events).
As far as the rest - the main part - is concerned, great post and great irony!
Funny he is, I give him that. Couldn't agree more with your post -- in fact, I wrote something in a similar tone to ChessBase immediately after reading the news there.
There seems to be something wrong with this team. Topalov talks trash, sometimes even wears crazy shirts to intimidate his opponent, Danailov handles the formal part of the accusation hurling (press conferences), Cheparinov refuses to shake hands... Oh boy.
"I expect that in the remaining six months the team of Anand will try to do everything possible and insist on implausible conditions during the negotiations and before signing the contract with FIDE, just to make us nervous.
"
What would make him expect that? As far as I can tell, Anand has not only been a great sportsman and a gentleman, but simply the nicest guy ever to be champion! Danailov's mother should be ashamed of her rotten son!
Anand is resting on his laurels...because he has laurels. I believe he beat Kramnik decisively in a match last year. And Topalov...oh, right, he lost to Kramnik in a match despite getting a free point and using every dirty (toilet-dirty) trick his 'daddy' Danailov could come up with. Topalov has a temporary #1 rating and a tournament he won in 2005. Anand is only the World Champion.
I really appreciate the generosity and kind demenour of Anand. I think he makes perfect number one name for the game.
Danailov is doing a great disservice to Topalov. Great players do retire and hope to write books as a next income generator or as a legacy for chess fans to enjoy.
I still root for Shirov and Karpov regardless of their rankings and trully enjoyed their books.
I do not bother to buy books authored by Topalov (or books written about him) as long as he associates himself with whinging Danailov.
Has Anand made any negative remarks towards Topalov ? None that I have heard of.
It is not a good idea to rile champions with trash talk. I am sure Anand is mature enough to ignore this BS and this will only make Anand more determined to answer this nonsense on the chess board. As far as I can see he is in top form in one of the strongest tournaments of the year (all time?) in Russia- not really resting on laurels Mr. Danialov??
is strange how all of this accusations to Anand is the kind of behaviour of Danailov team,
liers sometime been afraid of get caugth accusate other person for their own sins.
then topalov was using computers assistance in san luis 2005, that is why he can have the same performances since then.
As much as I dislike the sorts of accusations and trash-talking head games offered up by the Topalov & Danailov team, I find the earlier accusations that Topalov received computer help just as worthless and unpleasant. No proof or solid evidence of it has ever been offered, and Topalov has shown himself capable of going on hot streaks against even the world's best players as far back as 1996, when even I was still better than the computers GMs would have access to. So let's not repeat that old smear against Topalov.
Kramnik claimed before their match that Anand was not a real world champion in Kramnik's personal view because Anand had not won a World Championship match. After Anand demolished Kramnik he claimed that this statement provided him with tremendous motivation. Danilov is now repeating the same mistake. This is stupid since Anand having accomplished nearly everything in chess can use more motivation.
"Demolished"? +2 was a very good result, but let's not ruin an excellent point by slipping into propaganda.
Completely agree with DMs points in his responses above. Back on Danialov- I wonder if his comments a reflection of team Topalov's insecurity as a result of Anand as a result of his spending a lot of time with his prep for the WCC and being selective with the rating tournaments he plays in so that it ties in with his prep? We all know Anand had superb preparation with his crack team of seconds for his match with Kramnik.....Perhaps I am reading too much into this...